Here we go, finally got around to check the page after the busy weekend (did check it before that but was not so sure about breaking ice since nobody had posted yet) so here i am, ready to write my first post in the diary, and just realized the internet is down for some reasons.. Murphy’s Law i’d say.. i will still write the entry and post it later on if the….

yeah, the line is back now, and i figured out how to post here..

Have to say i am delighted with the first class, delighted of working with you guys… i have met Han and Kevin and worked with them before, but it was the first time meeting Paul and Owen, and the first impression was quite positive… a bit surprised because there are so few of us in the class, but at the same time the quartet/band format seems quite intriguing….it could have great benefits, but it also puts a lot of pressure on us.. guys, not a chance of missing one single class without being dearly missed

am actually listening to our improvisations from last wednesday as i write so my take on the whole class blog thingee is: how cool is that?

recordings definitely makes me appreciate Han’s perspective of outside listener being able to gauge the effectiveness of our improvisation without the bias of the participant, being it pride or self demeaning (which is probably the same thing in the end).. this reminds me of Bob Brozman’s definition ‘Recording is God’s own way of telling you that you suck’.. well, in fairness we did’t seem to be that bad

weird how those pieces felt ‘longer’ while we were playing them, and much ’shorter’ now.. strange how while we were playing sometime we get the feeling of having said all that there is to say, while from the listener’s perspective one could ask: is that it?

in any case, the class got me thinking about improvisation a lot over the last week which is quite good. had a session with Kevin in the meantime, some bonding to be done before the october StetLab.. we used electric guitars for that (and in that case i felt the similarity of sound issue a bit stronger..don’t feel this much of an issue in class.. Spanish nylon string guitar/Puertorican steel string cuatro.. more of a visual/ideal similarity than a tonal/timbre one from this angle)

as for the KarateKid vs. FreeForm i’m still a bit puzzled (i guess that was the intention)

part could be because i’m a bit used to like my improvisations free, and so far have gathered much more experience with the learning by doing method than by talking/discussing/exchanging views ..neither have experienced much free improvising in a hierarchical context (even when i found myself working with seasoned improvisers in the past) but of course it wouldnt be as worthy if there was no challenge

in this sense i’d naturally go for the free form based course, and take risks, but i feel curious about the Karate Kid method too..’guaranteed to bring results’.. any chances of elaborate a bit more on that?

(oh by the way, i haven’t seen Karate Kid..)

beginning to have some clue about ‘why improvise’.. but it’s better to leave them til the class..

roll on wednesday,

be well guys

andrea

first impressions

Small group (quartet), a significant change to the 9+ class sizes of the past. Four is the magic number in these context (maybe we’ll discuss this in future classes), but for now, all I can say is… we have a band (2 treble instruments, bass and drums). How weird is that?

identity politics

All male class (all white, but, hey, this is Cork). Why is that? What happened to all the female students this year?

background and prior experience

No one in the group comes from a complete no-prior-experience-of-improvisation background. Does this mean the group has a head start, or that we come with baggage we need shed? How much are our habits (and as improvisers and performers we all have tricks we rely upon from time to time) going to be benefits or liabilities in the coming weeks?

introductions and contract

Everyone got to introduce themselves and state what they expect from the course. Whole bunch of issues came up which we’ll be returning to in the coming weeks:

• interaction: stimulus and response, choices, etc.
• freedom
• restrictions and limits
• boundaries (and responsibilities?)
• (personal) expression

Paul brings up the concept of process (his word) and interaction (mine). We’re starting in a good place here.

Owen is looking for freedom—freedom away from stylistic (idiomatic?) limits, and freedom in terms of ‘expression’. How’s that for a list of interesting and problematic terms? Plenty to go on….

first improvisation

First impressions: very polite.

Found the interventions of Kevin dramatic, and as was Owen’s absence. (Learned that Andrea’s listening is based on an almost LCR or surround sound system.)

The group is good at gauging duration (a request for five minute came in just under), so we probably won’t have to spend too many classes dealing with that issue. (We will likely need to deal with the issue of how to start and how to end of course….)

discussion

This, for me, is when the group starts to shine. Andrea brings up ‘choices’, Kevin wonders about the initial impulse that cascades through the group. We’re not quite in a position to articulate a lot of these ideas in a pragmatic fashion yet, but we’re entering interesting areas.

final improvisations

Notice that Andrea and Paul are very much into their instruments, while Kevin and Owen (especially Owen) are very much looking around at the group (visually driven?). So I requested that Kevin and Owen don’t look at the group, and Andrea and Paul to look up from their instruments.

Now that was interesting wasn’t it? what’s the mechanism here? what happene?

Unfortunately ran out of time. (Maybe return to this later…)

other business

Blog / class diary. Class volunteered to be frank about criticisms, etc. (I’m personally a little nervous about this: people often say they want the ugly truth until they get it.) Propose that we start by being civil on the blog, and then see what happens.

Oh, and the blog will be public. (Nothing like living dangerously.) I will, however, refrain from posting certain information up here: actual assessment (grades), attendance records, etc.

for next week

Question: Why improvisation? Of all the myriad of was to construct / perform / do music, why improvise?

How do we proceed?

• Plan A: we do a Karate Kid, paint some fences. I lay out a bunch of exercises…
• Plan B: freeform. Much more exciting, but much riskier. Class generates direction (I only mark the exit points).

Primary thing to note is that the student/instructor relationship (and responsibilities) will be different depending on the model we choose.

Had some discussion on this, and we’ll vote on this next Wednesday.